Sugar Stings
by Mollydolly1996
Summary: After being reaped for the 70th Hunger Games, Annie Cresta must survive in the arena with the knowledge she has. Will Annie make it out alive? Will the sugar she posses sting her fellow tributes?


**This is for Hannzz who requested this. Hope its okay.**

As the sixty seconds begins to tick by, I take the opportunity to take in my surroundings. We're in the middle of a beautiful field, full of wild flowers and bunny rabbits. In the distance to my right, I can see a large dam with a small stream escaping from it, leading to rather large pond. On my left is a large river, flowing with a current fast enough to carry a person for miles. Both in front and behind me are trees; hundreds and hundreds of trees. The trees behind the Cornucopia aren't that far, in fact, the branches of a few trees hangs the side of the Cornucopia; a jump away.

15...

My fellow District Four tribute is five spaces to my right.

13...

The District One girl is next to me, on my left.

11...

The Cornucopia isn't that far, not really.

10...

Oh my lord, this is really it.

9...

This is the Hunger Games...

8...

I could die in this arena...

7...

I might never see my family again...

6...

No, I can win.

5...

I will win.

4...

I'll see my family again.

3...

I'll ask Finnick out.

2...

My family won't starve.

1...

I will be victorious.

The gong sounds, informing us that we are free to move now. I waste no time in running straight towards the Cornucopia, pushing my legs forward with as much force as possible. I grab the first weapon I can get my hands on, a bow and arrow. Give it a go girl, its better than dying without trying.

I load the bow and look towards my fellow tributes. I send an arrow flying shooting it into the chest of the chest of the male tribute from District Eight. Nice going, girl. I load another arrow, looking for someone else. I shoot the arrow, this time only getting the District Ten female in the back of her leg as she tries to run.

Grabbing a knife, I make my way towards her; trusting my fellow careers to watch over me. I look around as I walk towards the girl, shocked to find only five bodies on the ground dead. A few of the packs are missing but everything else is still at the Cornucopia. The other tributes must have run away. I wave at my fellow careers who are waiting at the Cornucopia for me.

The District Ten girl is trying to pull herself to her feet after pulling the arrow from her. She makes it up and hops towards the tree line. She breathing heavily, panic is obviously taking her over. She looks over her shoulder at me, fear written clearly on her face. Wrong thing to do. As she isn't looking where she's going she falls over, merely five feet from where I shot her down.

I stoop to pick up the arrow before continuing towards her. I'm a career, I'm a tribute; this is my job. Feel no fear, have no mercy, show no pain. She rolls onto her back, scooting herself away from me. She's shaking her head, crying with snot dripping down her top lip. There's already blood on her forehead, she must have fallen on something.

"No, please, no" the District Ten girl sobs, holding her hands up as if they could protect her.

"Thank you for your sacrifice. I assure you it will not be in vain, I shall win" I tell her, crouch down to her. "Good Night."

I plunge the knife forwards and into her chest. Her eyes go wide, her mouth forming a little 'o'. I keep a straight face, knowing that there is a large chance the camera's are on me. Blood trickles from her lips and she looks down to where I'm holding the knife into her chest. Slowly, as her dying eyes watch, I pull the knife out. Slowly, she starts to fall backwards, coughing on her own blood. Her shaking body finally stops, stilling as her eyes turn glassy. Its over, she's dead.

I stand up and turn around, wiping the blood off my knife. I walk back to the careers, stopping to collect the arrow from the District Eight boy. Just as I make it back, the cannon starts to fire. Once, twice, three times, a forth, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh. The seventh body must be somewhere in the trees.

"Nice going, Annie. Two out five, fish on darling" my District Four partner congratulates me.

"Well, I'm not a wimp" I lie, giving a tight smile. "Can't believe they all just ran away. I thought more would try to fight for stuff."

"Seriously? They'd have no chance against us, they have a higher survival rate alone with nothing" the District Two girl snorts. Her cat like eyes run over me and I fight back a shiver. "So... You're Annie. I'm Dixie."

"Lillybird" the District One girl puts in.

"Flux" my District partner says.

"Neno" the District One boy says.

"Horne" District Two's male adds.

"Nice to meet you all, shame it isn't under better circumstances" I give a fake smile.

Everyone else gives their fake smiles, clutching their weapons closer. I'm the fourth to look up when a hovercraft flies over us, heading towards the trees. It sends a sort of... grabbing thing... which picks up a body not far from the tree line; taking it into the hovercraft. It then does the same for other dead tributes.

As it goes to collect the District Ten female, another tribute runs from the trees. I watch as the run towards the grabber thing, jumping as they near it. They grab hold and I watch as they begin to shake. From the loud, deep scream, I'm able to gather its a male tribute. I watch as he falls to the ground motionless and a cannon sounds. Damn, that was simple.

I turn away as the hovercraft finishes removing the bodies from the Cornucopia, the sooner they're gone, the better I'll feel. Flux watches the bodies being taken away with hungry eyes, he likes the killing. I think its disgusting. I may act like none of this affect me, but I only act that way to survive. If I acted the way I truly feel, they'd all kill me in a second.

When the hovercraft disappears, we start looking at the things we have. We have crates of foot, blankets, medical supplies, tents, sleeping bags, bottles filled with water, empty bottles, ropes and much more. We've got a good supply of things, enough to keep us alive unless something happens.

"Right" Dixie sighs, looking around at the weapons around us. "Who's taking what? I'm taking the knives, before anything is said."

"I'll have the bow and arrows" Lillybird says, glaring at me. "I'm a better shot than you, sweetheart."

"Of course, love" I snort, shaking my head. She pulls her knife out, stomping towards me. I lift mine up, not having put it away. "Oh, yeah?"

"Stop it. You can have a competition thing to see who's better. The winner get it" Horne rolls his eyes. "I'll take the sword and crest sword."

"Spear" puts in Neno.

"Trident" Flux smirks.

"Okay, lets find out about you girls then" Horne says. He points to a tree in front of us, about one-hundred feet away. "Whoever hits that... or gets the closest. Four's first."

"Its Annie" I spit, loading my arrow.

I look down the arrow, closing my left eye. I aim at the middle of the tree, pulling the bow string back as much as I can. I let out a breath before letting the string go. The arrow gets released and goes rocketing away from me. I watch it as it nears the tree, going for the nook I aimed at. And it hits it... okay well, not exactly the point of the tree I wanted to hit but close enough.

I look to Lillybird and give her a smile. I lower my bow and walk towards the tree, pride filling my chest. I'm far from a great shoot but if its a large, preferably still, object then I, on a good day, can hit it. I stand in front of the tree, my hand wrapped around the arrow. I pull with all my strength until it comes out and I walk back to my group.

"Your turn, love" I say, handing her the bow and an arrow.

She snatches it off me, her mouth in a straight line but her eyes glowing with anger. She loads the arrow, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She breaths softly as she closes her right eye, she's left handed then. Biting her lip, she lets the string go and the arrow shots away. It heads towards the tree, spinning madly and then... it misses. If I were closer, I would be able to see where it just skimmed the bark.

Glaring at me again, Lillybird thrusts the bow back into my hands and stomps off to retrieve the arrow. I watch her, a small smile on my face. I'm better shot than a District One tribute, and she got a score of ten while I was only a nine! I watch as she disappears into the trees, pushing a branch back.

"I suppose this is mine then" I grin, waving the bow at my fellow careers.

"Sure is, sugar" Neno smiles, sending me a wink. I fight a flinch, Finnick called me that.

"Anyway. Are we using all the tents or are we all sharing?" Flux asks with a sigh.

"It would be better if we shared, girls and boys. Easiest way to keep watch" Dixie replies.

"You guys better not take up-" Horne starts before he's interrupted by a very loud scream.

We all turn to where Lillybird ran into the trees. Horne is the first to start running towards the area, grabbing his sword. Next is Flux and then me, loading an arrow. Dixie and I run side-by-side as Neno stays behind to protect our belongings.

We hop over the fallen branches and cutting away long vines. I can see Lillybird laying on the ground, her hands at her throat as she coughs up blood. I look further ahead and see someone running away.

"Dixie, with me" I shout, not stopping at Lillybird and instead continuing on after the other tribute.

"Shame, Lils" Dixie says as she passes the fallen tribute by. Or nearly fallen.

The tribute we're following looks over his shoulder and I recognise him straight away. Its the boy from District Twelve. I spoke to him, he was nice. I make eye contact with him for a split second. I see the fear, the want to leave, see him begging me through that one look. I ignore him though. I want to live and I'm going to go home, he has to die.

I lift up my bow, pointing the arrow at his retreating back. I don't close my eye this time, not while running. I let the bow string go, watching as the arrow leaves me. It misses him and instead lodges itself into a tree just to his right. I watch as he falls to the ground, not even noticing that Dixie threw a knife and hit him the back.

I slow down to a jog and stop by him. I pull the arrow from the tree as I look down at him. His eyes meet mine again and they are filled with hatred. I don't blame him. I hate myself for the lives that I have helped to take but I can't make myself feel sorry. Because of their death, I'm one step closer to getting home. And that's all I want, to go home.

I turn away and start jogging back to Lillybird, leaving Dixie to finish him off; she could handle it. I try to keep my breathing under control as I near. As they come into sight, a cannon goes off and then another. I slow down to a walk, looking over Lillybird's body.

Her brown eyes are opened wide but are unseeing. Her large pink lips are open in an 'o' from where she was gasping for air. Her golden hair was still in a messy plait, the end of it dripped in blood. The whole of her neck and throat was covered in blood from where her throat had been cut. Her hands, which laid on her chest, we also cover in the sticky red stuff.

"Well...that a bummer, she could a been useful" Dixie says, catching back up with us. "Oh well, get her weapons and lets go."

I follow her, not wanting to touch Lillybird's body. "Have fun, guys."

When we get back, we all split up. Neno continues to keep watch, Dixie, Flux and Horne set up the tents while I start the fire. We decide not to go hunting for the other tributes tonight and instead rest and go after them tomorrow. I'm glad for that, I don't want to kill anyone else.

We eat an apple, banana, two beef strips and three crackers each, along with drinking a bottle of water. When we're all finished, Flux and Horne go to fill up the bottles again. When they get back,we add the iodine drops and put them to the side.

As we sit down around the fire, the anthem begins to play and the sky lights up. I watch as the fallen are shown in order. District one is shown first with Lillybird, then the girl and boy from District Five, both from Seven, the boy from Eight. Both from Nine. Then its the girl from Ten and then finally the boy from District Twelve before the sky goes dark. Ten dead, fourteen left. That's a lot.

"Flux, you take first watch. Wake me in a couple of hours and then we'll swap" Horne says, standing up and heading to his tent.

Soon, the rest of us follow him apart from Flux. I snuggle down into my sleep bag, turning on my side away from Dixie. When I hear her begin to snore, I let myself go. The tears fall silently down my cheeks. I killed two people today and helped in a third. I'm a murderer, I'm no better than the Capitol. I showed no mercy, I didn't spare a thought for them or their families; only thought of myself. But this is the Hunger Games, I have to be like that; its the only way I'll survive.

When the tears stop, I let myself fall into the exhausted sleep. Today has worn me out emotionally, which is enough on its own without the running and fighting. This is not what I thought I would be doing, I never expected this to happen to me; not in a million years.

In District Four, you are somewhat trained for the Hunger Games. Its illegal but all the Career Districts do it and the Capitol doesn't care, it makes the Games more exciting. When we turn eighteen, our names are put into two bowls, one for girls and one for boys... our reaping before the reaping. If your name is picked out, then you must volunteer to go into the Games if someone under the age of eighteen is called. Louise Potts was called for the girls in the real reaping, she's seventeen... Obviously, my name was pulled from the home-made reaping bowl.

That's what I dream about all night, volunteering in the place of someone I don't know. Someone who, if I were given the choice, I wouldn't die for. If it had been a friend of mine or a family member than sure, I would have. But a stranger? I had never even seen her at training. I only saw her face because it was on the big screen, she didn't come and say thank you.

"Breakfast!" a shout wakes me up.

I roll over and open my eyes, Dixie is gone. I push myself up, grabbing the one knife I have along with my bow and arrows. I go out of the tent, rubbing my eyes. I stretch, letting out a moan as my back clicks. That felt good. I sit down at the opening of the tent and Dixie hands me some food and a cup of water.

"You heated up the beef strips?" I ask, chewing on one.

"Yep" she smiles. "I love it, we do this at home."

"Cool. Our treats are beef strips alone. We normally have undercooked or raw fish; what the Capitol call _Sushi_" I tell her.

"I tried that! It tasted amazing" she gushes.

We finish the rest of our breakfast in silence, silently chewing the food and swallowing the water. I don't complain. The warm beef tastes great. The grapes are sour which I like. There are also a few pieces of orange and a slice of bread.

"Flux, Neno, you go refill the bottles" Horne says. "When you get back, we'll set off hunting."

"I'm not staying behind" Dixie chuckles humourlessly.

"Someone has to" Horne tells her.

"Now is not the time to fight. I'll watch over the stuff, just be back a few hours before sun set" I sigh, shaking my head.

"Good" Dixie smiles happily.

When the boys get back, they leave the untreated water bottles with me; telling me to make the water last for myself. They each take an apple and a few crackers with them along with four waters bottles from yesterday. I wave to them as they go. As they disappear into the trees, I bend down to treat the water.

As the time starts to pass by, I practice with all the weapons apart from the bow and arrow. I don't want to miss and then go searching in the woods for the area. Within an hour of them being gone, a cannon goes off, alerting us to another tributes demise.

When I get bored, I decide to look through all of our things again. The medicine is good, ones that could save your life. We've got another three tents, six sleeping back. Plenty of food and bottles. I find some clothes that look to be about my size, a jacket, trousers and a pair of socks. Looking around to make sure no other tributes are near, I quickly strip. I quickly pull the new clothes on before putting my originals over the top.

Then cannon goes again. Once, twice, three times. Three dead at once? Damn. Four dead already and its not even lunch, that means there's only ten of us left now. That's not a lot. How many more are they going to go after today? Surely four is enough for now, they don't want the Games to be too short. And I'm right, they do come back an hour later. They are arguing, shouting at each other. But there is one person missing.

"Where's Neno?" I ask, walking up to them.

"Tell her Flux, tell her what you did" Horne says, putting pressure on him.

"It wasn't my fault" Flux shouts at him, gripping his trident tightly.

"Yes it was!" Dixie argues. "We were two-on-two. You were meant to be helping Neno but oh no! You left him to fight that huge guy. You left him to die because you didn't want to get your trident dirty."

"Okay, so maybe tha-" Flux starts but then stops.

I fight the scream down, I fight to stop my eyes going wide as Flux's head rolls onto the floor and the cannon fires. I jog backwards, away from the head which is looking my way. Crap. The rest of his body falls to the floor. Horne looks down at his sword which is covered with my District partners blood.

"Well done, Horne" I snap. "Like I really want all his blood splatted on me; I like my hair to stay clean."

"Sorry" he smiles, giving me a wink.

"Well, you're lucky. I was standing closer" Dixie grimaces, trying to wipe the blood from her jacket.

"Come on, lets move so they can get his body" I sigh, turning and walking back towards the pile of our stuff.

By the time we're made a fire to warm us up, Flux's body has been removed from the arena and is getting ready to be shipped home. We eat our dinner and wait for the fallen to be shown in the night time sky. Neno is shown first, then Flux, followed by the boy and girl from Three and finally the boy from Eleven.

"You two go to bed, you've been hunting. Its only far" I sigh. "I'll wake you up in a few hours Dixie to take over."

"Cheers babe" Horne says and I wink at him, smiling.

Dixie waits until Horne is in his tent. "Okay but if you start getting tired, wake me."

"You know I will" I assure her with a grin.

"I'm sorry about Flux but... he couldn't be trusted... its his fault that Neno is dead" she tells me.

"Oh, I know. I agree with what Horne did. I mean, I wouldn't want him watching my back" I assure her.

"Exactly" she chuckles before walking to her tent. "Night." she says before ducking into the tent.

I wait ten minutes before creeping up to the tents. I listen quietly and hear them snoring. Good. I rush back to the Cornucopia stock hold and grab a bag. I shoulder that and grab a tent bag. I find an empty bag and fill it with food. I add three bottles of water. I also add matches. I grab another bag and fill it with medicine.

I turn to run away from the tents holding the other careers until I see who's waiting for me. Dixie stands with her eyes narrowed, arms crossed and shaking her head. Her black hair falls around her shoulders in sharp spikes of disappointment. Crap, I'm in trouble.

"Please, Dixie, just let me go tonight. Then, tomorrow, come after me" I beg her.

"No" she chuckles humourlessly. "No, I'll kill you now and be done with it."

"Fine. Go ahead. I'm dead anyway" I choke out a sob, opening my arms to invite her to attack me.

And she does... just not the way that I expect. She wraps her hands around my throat, attempting to choke me. I push the knife forward and into her stomach. Her eyes widen in shock as she drops her hands and steps backwards. Before he has a chance to scream for Horne, I slash her throat.

I then run for the trees, cutting the vines away. Three minutes pass and Dixie's cannon goes off. After another five minutes of running running, I turn left and head towards the dam. I don't stop running until I see the rocks and wood. I slow to a walk, breathing heavily.

I look up at the sky. "Please, Finnick, what do I do?"

There's no reply from the sky, its just quite and dark. For now at least. As I begin to settle down and set up my little camp, I head a scream and then a cannon, then another cannon and hour later. Horne must be looking for me and coming across other tributes. Six of us left now. How close is he? Will he find me sometime soon? I don't want to die.

There are no more deaths that night. I wait for the fallen to be shown. First its Dixie, then the boy from Ten and the girl from Twelve. Just us six. I settle down into my sleeping bag and close my eyes.

I stand outside my tent, watching the sun as it climbs the sky. I take a sip of water before eating a few grapes. I never knew the Games could make the arena look beautiful.

I hear screaming, footsteps, bird noises? They come rushing my way and I begin to run. This can't be good. I look over my shoulder and see three other tributes behind me, waving their arms about as birds try to peck at them. I watch as one tribute falls down at my now old camp and a flock of birds swarm around her. Are they...eating her? I can hear her screaming as I turn back towards the front, running for my life. A cannon sounds, telling us she's dead.

When we reach the clearing which holds the Cornucopia, we turn to look behind us. I see only female tribute from Eight. A cannon sounds, showing someone else is dead. Four left. Eight turns to look at me, eyes narrowed. Then, when we hear the screams, we look towards the Cornucopia where we see the boy from Six and Horne running from the tree.

We all watch in amazement as the birds don't come out of the trees, they just stay watching. I can hear the birds making their own screaming noises, annoyed they can't get us now. They must be mutations, work of the Capitol to make the Games more exciting.

I feel a pair of arms around my neck, squeezing my throat. My hands go to the arms scratching at them to try and get them off of me. From the corner of my eye, I can see Six and Horne fighting; they had both lost their weapons. A hand-to-hand fight to the death. I have no chance.

We all stop suddenly as the ground shakes and we fall to the ground; Eight still holding me. We hear a crack, something breaking. We look to our left, towards the damn. We watch as cracks start to run up the rocks, the wood aiding it crumbling. More water streams out. My eyes widen in horror. The dams going to burst, the arena's going to flood.

I throw my elbow back, shocking Eight and making her drop her hands. I waste no time and run. I run away from the dam, towards the Cornucopia, towards Six and Horne. I think they've worked it out because they too start running. I watch as Horne climbs onto the Cornucopia, Six quickly following him to the highest part. I keep running, looking to the tallest tree as I go. I find it and quickly start climb, thank goodness for that training.

I look over my shoulder when I get to the point where I can't go no higher. The dam's broken but only just so. The Game-makers wanted it to break slowly, to scare us. I see Eight running, the waters gaining on her. She turns to look over her shoulder, she falls and screams. Her scream barely carries and the water takes her. Her cannon fires as he body floats quickly away.

I watch as Six and Horne fight, hitting each other and pushing. The water is around the Cornucopia, it'll soon cover it. Horne stumbles backwards, falling onto his back. Six moves to stand over him but Horne pulls his leg back and then kicks him in the stomach. Six falls backwards, tittering on the edge of the Cornucopia. I hear Horne's laugh as Six falls over and is pulled away by the water. I look down as he passes me, drowning in the flow of water.

I look back to Horne. The cannon for Six booms over the arena. Its just us left. I could win, I could win the Hunger Games. I watch as he looks around him in panic as the water hits his ankles. He sees a branch not to far to the side of the Cornucopia. I watch as he doesn't even seem to think, just runs and jumps for it. He pulls himself up and crawls along to the tree trunk. I look back at the water. The Cornucopia is completely gone and I watch as the water slows, stills.

I narrow my eyes as I look into the water, looking for anything that can help me. There's rope, that could help. I could tie myself to the tree, keep myself safe in care something happens. I take a deep breath, closing my eyes to steady myself. I take a deep breath before jumping into the water.

I kick my feet, pushing myself to the surface of the water. I cough up some water, I went deeper than I thought I would. I can hear Horne laughing, he thinks I'm dying. I make eye contact with him before starting to swim for the rope. His laughing stops.

I grab the rope and start swimming back for the trees. I hear grunt and then I'm pushed down into the water. Water fills my lungs and I start panicking. I try to twist so Horne is at the bottom and I throw my arm backwards. My elbow backwards and hit him while I kick my legs. I escape the water and cough the liquid up. I gratefully breath in the air, feeling gratitude for being from District Four, for having to go swimming everyday for seaweed to eat and everything.

A hand grabs my ankle, pulling me down. I just about get some air into my lungs before I'm subdued in the water. I kick my other foot, trying to hit him. I break the water, grab a breath and then I'm pulled under again. The cycle goes on twice before my foot hits him.

I break through the water and fight through exhaustion to swim away. I turn back and see little little air bubbles and white water, like foam that a wave would make; from where someone is throwing their arms about. Horne is drowning.

He jumped on me, thinking he could hold me under the water and I'd drown first. Obviously not. The cannon sounds. Horne is dead. I'm the Victor of the seventh Hunger Games.

A voice booms over the arena. "Ladies and gentlemen of Panem, let me introduce you to the Victor of the seventh Hunger Games: District Four's Annie Cresta!"

**I made Annie a killer because she a career, obviously. **

**I made her sane for the whole of the Games because I don't think she had time to sit and think about all the event which made her insane. **

**I always thought Annie's games would be really short, its just my view. **

**Please review. If you want me to write a one shot for anyone else (not Katniss or Peeta) let me know who in a review and I will. I've already done one for Foxface :) Thanks**


End file.
